3 Freddy Peralta questions for the NY Mets to ask themselves after dud vs. Phillies

Freddy Peralta now has a 4.83 ERA after his Saturday dud against the Philadelphia Phillies. 10 earned runs in 2.2 innings of work, it made his recent 6 earned in 6 innings look like vintage Jacob deGrom. The New York Mets were manhandled by their NL East foe early. Fans young, old, and everywhere in between are in disbelief as to how rough it has gotten with a guy who was meant to be an ace.

Peralta’s future has been an ongoing Mets question beginning with discussions of an extension in the preseason and updates as recently as late May when his side remained determined to get a Max Fried contract of 7 or 8 years and over $200 million.

Clearly not trending in that direction, there are only three questions the Mets need to start asking aside from “what’s wrong?”

Some questions for the Mets and everyone else to ask about Freddy Peralta

1) What is his trade value right now?

Every Mets loss, or completely negative signs like this, make it seem as if the team will go into sell mode in the coming weeks. We can buy into the ball club when they win a series against the San Diego Padres then follow it up with an even more emotional one against the Atlanta Braves. This is not a bad team, just a flawed one playing catch-up with a lot of players underperforming.

The good news for the Mets is there is more than a month left before Peralta’s trade value settles. Previous to this start, I believed there was little that could actually tank his trade value because of how valuable a starting pitcher is at the deadline. Even in a down year, a player like Peralta should draw trade interest.

No contender should completely negate the idea of trading for Peralta. However, the value is shortening. We’ve gone from rumors of a top 100 prospect plus another throw-in or two down to one or the other. Starts like the one he had on Saturday won’t do him any favors.

2) Is Freddy Peralta worth keeping and offering a qualifying offer?

The Mets don’t need to trade Peralta if the value is weak because they have the qualifying offer to hand out. Estimated to be $23.1 million for next season, it’s a way for the Mets to gain draft pick compensation if he signs elsewhere while also giving them a slight edge on some other teams in free agent negotiations.

The contract total isn’t too ridiculous for the kind of player Peralta can be. We shouldn’t suspect the Mets to shy away from making the offer unless they’re going to question whether he is the right guy. Steve Cohen can solve money problems. What he can’t fix is the choice of picking Peralta over possibly someone else.

3) Is he worth keeping at all?

Traded or not, the Mets need to question if Peralta is cut out for this team. Regardless of cost, years, or any other variable that needs to be considered, the player has raised doubts. It’s not as if Peralta had one bad day at the office. His reputation as a 5 inning starter was something we accepted as long as it came with brilliant run prevention. It hasn’t and even at his best, Peralta feels like someone the Mets aren’t missing.

What this team lacks is a true ace and at a greater cost, one might be worth hunting for. Peralta hasn’t been a complete mess with the Mets, but the ups and downs have been too great throughout his first 16 starts with New York.

The Mets need to ask the other questions first before a resolution comes here. A good teammate by all accounts and someone we have to figure David Stearns has some level of faith in, the team could be better off going all-in after Tarik Skubal or attempt to get cute and find another team’s ace. There are far too many options to simply settle too quickly on a long-term relationship with Peralta.

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